LAHORE: Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has said her government will bridge the gap between the cities and villages of the province when it comes to development and provision of facilities to the people.

`Neither new taxes imposed nor their rates increased. We have presented a tax-free budget with the biggest development programme in the history of the province. Fruits of development will now reach every village. Some 1,800 villages in Punjab will be made model villages,` she said here on Tuesday.

`BesidestheLahoreDevelopment Programme, Punjab Development Project is also being launched. The development [programme] will nolonger differentiate between the rich and the poor. It will be rather equal for all. We have come with a spirit of serving the common man, she said.

She said the government was sincerely trying to fulfill the mission of welfare of the people of Punjab. She said she would fulfill promises made to the farmers.

`Not thousands but millions of farmers will benefit from the Green Tractor Scheme. A sum of Rs15.5 billion is being given for [provision of ] more tractors,` she said and added that more than 12,000 kilometres of roads have been constructed and expanded in the province.

She said the Nawaz Sharif Cancer Hospital and Sargodha`s Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cardiology would be completed this year. The NawazSharif Medical District would be the first centre in Pakistan where all deadly diseases will be treated, besides conducting research on them.

`Students will be given meritorious scholarships and laptops.

Children will not sit on the fioor in any school in Punjab. A sum of Rs40bn is being spent to provide them with all the missing facilities.

The chief minister said that Layyah and Bhakl(ar, along with other remote districts, would be given access to motorway, besides extending better communication links to Muzaffargarh and Mianwali.

She said that she would not let the children of labourers sleep hungry and allocated Rs40bn for their ration cards.